Chandigarh: In a major relief to government employees and pensioners in Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered parity in dearness allowance (DA) with IAS, IPS and judicial officers.
The court on Wednesday directed the AAP government to implement the आदेश and ensure payment by June 30. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 2, when the court will review the compliance report.
According to official data, Punjab has around 3.5 lakh regular employees and over 4 lakh pensioners who will benefit from the decision. Until now, IAS and IPS officers were receiving 58% DA, while other employees and pensioners were limited to 42%, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.
Employees had long been demanding DA parity, which has now been granted following the court’s intervention.
Counsel for the employees, Rashpinder Singh, said around 200 retired and serving employees from various corporations had approached the High Court. He pointed out that Punjab had a policy of aligning DA with central government rates, under which two instalments were cleared annually until 2019.
However, the current government cleared only one instalment in 2022 (with retrospective effect), another in 2023, and the last instalment on October 24, 2024, for the year 2023.
Under the existing formula linked to the Centre, DA for Punjab employees is supposed to match that of central government staff. While central employees have crossed 58% DA, Punjab employees had remained stuck at 42% until the court’s latest order.
